NATIONAL SURVEY ON TELEPHONE SERVICES AND PRODUCTS - THE VIEWS OF DEAF AND HARD-OF-HEARING PEOPLE

A national study of 128 deaf and hard-of-hearing adults aged 18 to 70 years found that they are willing to pay as much as $15 per month for new telephone-based information services, in part because they are frustrated with what they regard as inadequate access to the nation's telecommunications network. The services they most want are "enhanced 911," fire, police, and other life and safety services. A majority wants the telecommunications network equipped with speech recognition capabilities as soon as the state-of-the-art permits, so that they can gain full access to network-based services. These findings suggest that changes in the national telecommunications policy might enhance the lives of deaf and hard-of-hearing adults. Policy changes might also permit them, as well as younger deaf Americans, to benefit more from the recently enacted Americans with Disabilities Act and to benefit more from other rights and services promoting access to work, education, and independent living.